Fighting the Flu

Heard an interesting bit on SF Forum this a.m. A new study suggests that one of the reasons that there is “flu season” is that the flu virus survives best in cold, non-humid environments where it can remain both stable and airborne. Here is a link to the NYT article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/health/research/05flu.html?ref=science. Because of the flu’s ability to remain airborne, it was suggested by the SF Forum guest, a pediatrician from Kaiser, that coughing and sneezing should be done into something (a tissue, your sleeve, etc.) that might contain the spread of the virus, rather than simply projecting it into the atmosphere.